Pop art

The pop art movement began in the 1950s when artists began to use images from popular culture to describe an increasingly industrialised and media-saturated society. Pop artists challenged fine art traditions through this new approach to subject matter. Mass media and advertising were favourite subjects for witty celebrations of consumer culture, with New York artist Andy Warhol (1928-1987) probably pop’s defining artist.

Art practice was fundamentally transformed by artists such as Robert Rauschenberg who, in his Dylaby 1962, blurred the lines between painting and sculpture. Contemporary art continues to be influenced by these ideas, though popular culture has changed over time.

Like Warhol, Jeff Koons makes fine art out of kitsch objects, continuing to question the values of modern society, and he too has referenced celebrities in his works and, in turn, become a celebrity himself.